Flaxseed and Hot Flashes

Okay, we'll go for a food trifecta this week ..

A new,small study finds women taking 40 g daily of crushed flaxseed had an appreciable drop in the number of hot flashes they normally endure. These were women who didn't want to take any estrogen treatment - and the flashes diminished by about half.

The study ran for 6 weeks. It's believed the weak estrogenic properties of flaxseed are responsible for the results. The study was done at the Mayo Clinic and is reported in the summer 2007 issue of the Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology.

HOWEVER . .this is only a phase 2 clinical study which means it still needs to be reviewed and repeated with a much larger population. But it's interesting. Keep in mind though, some of the 23 women in the study had abdominal side effects. And as always, if you give it a try remember to tell your doctor you're using flaxseed when they ask what if any meds you're taking.

Eating to prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Yesterday's story encouraged you to add almonds to your daily diet. Today's update looks at whole grains and their relationship to preventing diabetes.

The researchers looked at 4 studies of different groups of people and their health as it related to whole grain consumption. While the study authors can't say definitively that by eating more whole grains you'll prevent type 2 diabetes, they have strong evidence showing it can help.

The study authors point out people who eat more whole grains tend to live a healthier lifestyle, but they say, that didn't really come into play . .that it was the whole grain consumption on it's own.

What to eat? Well, bran appeared to be the most important constituent of whole grain for reducing diabetes risk with associations similar to those for total whole grain and the Department of Agriculture defines a serving of whole grain as 16 g of whole grain ingredients, the equivalent of a slice of 100% whole wheat bread.
So - hey, what do you have to lose??


The study was funded by the NIH .. it appears in the August issue of the journal PLoS Medicine.

Nuts for your health

Nuts - specifically almonds - have gotten a lot of good press over the past few years as being good for our health. This latest report from the British Journal of Nutrition really caught my eye. Researchers found women who ate 344 calories worth of almonds (slightly more than 2 ounces) every day for 10-week straight weeks did not gain weight during that period. there are two schools of thought, here - 1 - that almonds don't contain as many calories as first thought and 2 - the fiber in almonds appears to block some of the fat they contain and that eating almonds often curbed the hunger of study participants and reduced their total number of calories consumed.
So, if you like nuts and are not allergic to them .. a handful a day may help keep the doctor away.

Another reason to kick the habit:Ladies, listen up...

...before you light up.

The latest research shows women are more vulnerable to head and neck cancers than men, even though the numbers are higher among men .. and the reason for an increase in cases - SMOKING.

When you weed through all the numbers for a 5 year study the results show: ever-smoking accounted for 45% of head and neck cancers in men and 75% in women.

While the researchers ( supported by the NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE ) say there might be other factors at play, the bottom line they say: "our results suggest that smoking is a strong risk factor for head and neck cancer in both sexes, and public health interventions should continue to focus on reducing smoking use by all," Dr. Abnet and his colleagues concluded.

If you want to read more check out the online Oct. 1 issue of 'Cancer'.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jissue/104532863